A year ago, Kirralee Hughes was thinking about an all-ladies trek to tackle the Kokoda Trail when her teenage sons told her 'yeah Mum, it's easy, you'll be fine'.
Zac and Dane had just returned from completing the trail with their father, Mark, whose foundation has raised money to fight brain cancer for the past decade. Expeditions like the one to the iconic Papua New Guinea track have been part of fundraising efforts since the former Knights star started the Mark Hughes Foundation following his brain cancer diagnosis.
"I said to Mark, 'go make some memories with our boys, have a really good time - nothing to do with the foundation', so they went to Kokoda and did it a second time," Kirralee said.
"They had an incredible time and my boys came back and said, 'yeah Mum, it's easy, you'll be fine'. And I thought, 'yeah, I can do it'.
"Honestly, as I'm going up the hills, I'm thinking, 'I'm going to kill my boys when I get home'," she laughed.
"My whole body is still hurting."
The 23-strong group, which included family members of brain cancer victims, arrived home last Wednesday after taking on the eight-day, 96-kilometre trek. Kirralee said it was an "amazing, once-in-a-lifetime experience" on the WWII battle ground.
"It's hard to describe how hard it is," she said.
"The terrain is unforgiving. There's mud, you are slipping everywhere and you are going up hills for hours, then down for hours.
"There's tree roots everywhere, so if you lose concentration, you're on your butt or down a cliff. To do that and think about the soldiers that had to fight in that terrain, it was quite emotional at times.
"Some of the ladies had relatives' graves at the Bomana Cemetery. Some had a very close connection, but even if you didn't, it was so hard not to be moved by the storytelling and to be standing on sites where soldiers had passed."
NRLW star Millie Elliott, Kris Buderus, the wife of Knights legend Danny, and Kristy Lees, the wife of top Newcastle thoroughbred trainer Kris, were among the group who helped raise more than $411,000, and counting.
"It was a really good trip," Kirralee said.
"We did our first one last year in Tasmania and it went really well, and I think Kris and I got a little bit excited and we said, 'let's do Kokoda'.
"It filled so quickly, and you've got to get the right mix of people as well ... it was an amazing trip.
"And for a group of 23 ladies to raise over $400,000, it was awesome. Everyone put so much effort into their fundraising."
Five nurses, including two MHF brain cancer care nurses, were also part of the group.
"They were treating villagers and porters," Kirralee said.
"One kid in a village had a really bad infection. They have no medical access there, so they cleaned up the wound and gave antibiotics.
"One of the porter's daughters died of malaria a couple of years ago, so it was pretty confronting, but our nurses just switched into gear and set up a mobile clinic. It was amazing."
One Agency Lindy Harris and EVO Hair Care Group were major sponsors of the trip.
